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Investigation of the potential of GIS-based planning tools to compare accessibility of activity locations and local socio-demographic factors

At a glance

  • Project leader : Albert Steiner
  • Project status : completed
  • Funding partner : Other (University of Gothenburg)
  • Contact person : Albert Steiner

Description

Methodological developments for the analysis of spatial accessibility are often concerned with increasing spatial and temporal resolution, which is important for practical mobility- or land use-related issues. Another increasingly important factor for regional planning is the calculation and assessment of inequality of accessibility, for example for everyday activities such as work, participation in educational events or leisure activities. In this context, inequality is understood as the quantitative difference in accessibility between geographical regions and/or due to the means of transport considered. This project explored how existing GIS and database platforms, together with freely available data and software tools, can be optimally used by regional planners to better understand the relationship between socio-demographic factors and spatial accessibility in the region under investigation. The findings should be used to apply the right tools to make better data-based planning decisions in the future. To achieve the above objectives, spatial accessibility measures were developed, the required travel times were calculated (data: timetable data from Västtrafik in GTFS format, road network from OpenStreetMap, etc.; Tools: OpenTripPlanner, pgRouting) and finally implemented and applied the methods. The accessibility values were compared within the study area (i) between the socio-demographic units and (ii) per unit for the modes of transport considered (public transport, motorised private transport, cycling and walking). The analyses showed, among other things, that there are in fact sometimes very large regional differences in accessibility and that there is often a clear connection to socio-demographic factors (e.g. income structure). It was also shown that the methods and tools developed and used provide a good basis for the practical support of regional planners. The project was part of the main project "Accessibility Planning Lab". The results were presented to a wide range of participants from different institutions in an online workshop. Furthermore, parts of the results are also included in an update of the so-called "Accessibility Atlas", which is published by the Human Geography Group at the University of Gothenburg.